We're 30!

Editor Caroline Nodder casts her memory back as The Publican Newspaper reaches a milestone birthday.

Thirty years ago I had just uttered one of my first proper words. And the word was - and this is absolutely true - "pub". I was 18 months old, but had already worked out that nothing beats sitting in the sunny garden of a pub with a packet of crisps, a glass of lemonade and, if I was especially well-behaved, a sip of my father's real ale.

"Take me pub," I would demand from my pushchair, and my parents, not needing to be asked twice, would don their bell-bottom flares and wheel me around the corner to my first ever local, the George in Tring, Hertfordshire.

And so it was that I developed something of a soft spot for the pub industry very early in life - September 1975 to be exact - at almost the same time that the very first issue of The Publican was hitting pub doormats across the country.

The intervening years have changed the pub industry, The Publican and indeed me, almost beyond recognition - but they haven't dented my passion for all things pub. This week we are celebrating the very best of the last 30 years in the pub trade. The pubs, the people, the stories, the memories and the innovations - those that took off and those that didn't!

We have asked licensees, operators and industry commentators for their views on the industry and their experiences over the last 30 years, as well as taking a look at how the industry has changed and even partaking in a bit of crystal ball gazing by predicting how pubs might look in another 30 years.

There is no doubt that the trade has advanced beyond recognition in the last three decades. In 1975, pubs were still predominantly the domain of the British male - children were seen and not heard, confined to the pub garden with the aforementioned packet of crisps and a lemonade if they were lucky.

The brewing giants controlled the majority of the pubs in the UK and the selection of ales was limited - as was the quality pub-goers could expect from the ales that were on offer. But then at 22p a pint, as compared to over £2 in today's market place, you could argue consumers had it easy!

Pub food stretched from crisps and nuts to, if the gods were smiling, a curled up sandwich under a glass dome on the counter, or perhaps a pickled egg. And customers had to plan their pub visits around a strict timetable - opening hours were 10.30am until 2.30pm or 6pm until 10.30pm. There was, apparently, no such thing as binge drinking...so no need for social responsibility, then.

There were no alcopops. No gastropubs. No table service. No health and safety risk assessments. No lager louts. No karaoke. No themed pub chains. No such thing as female-friendly.

And if you had gone up to the bar in your local and ordered a bowl of olives and a rocket salad with balsamic vinegar you'd have been given a very funny look and told in no uncertain terms to sling your hook.

Then came 1979, which meant Thatcher.....and Tim Martin. Tim Martin was, arguably, the founding father of the modern pub and opened his first site in 1979.

The consumerism of the early 1980s then took off with a vengeance and saw an increase in spending and the rise of the yuppie wine bar as well as a change in attitudes to customer service and food in pubs.

Dallas spawned a worrying trend towards very large shoulder pads and pubs and bars embraced the neon decade with relish. Wine sales grew and food became a bit more exciting. And innovation started to creep in, albeit rather slowly.

But the biggest changes for our industry came at the end of the 1980s and early 1990s with Lord Young's review of the market and subsequent introduction of the Beer Orders.

This blew the industry wide apart. The big brewers were forced to give up their hold over the market and sell off significant numbers of pubs which were snapped up in packages by entrepreneurial individuals - and a new breed of multiple operator was born.

The managed chains, which had been invented by Tim Martin, flourished. David Bruce launched the Firkin concept, and the idea of the themed pub entered public consciousness.

Then came the emergence of the alcopop in the mid-to-late 1990s and media and publican attention was drawn to the drinks industry with the first real backlash against irresponsible promotions. This put the pub and drinks trade in the firing line for the first time, where, sadly, it has remained to this day.

But while its image may have been tarnished, the 1990s saw the pub industry on a high. Pubs were welcoming a whole cross-section of consumers. Light, bright and airy, female-friendly chains like All Bar One led to a revolution in standards and consumer demand for food, wine and a range of drinks brands transformed the market almost beyond recognition.

And since then that change has continued to pick up pace. The decline of the vertically-integrated model and the boom in the property market has led to the rise of the giant tenanted and leased pubcos today. And on top of the enormous quantity of red tape and regulation which affect pub businesses today, we are about to enter a period of enormous political upheaval - with a whole new licensing regime coming in in November and a smoking ban apparently just round the corner.

But despite this tough business environment, today's pub-goers are without doubt being treated to some of the best quality hospitality pubs have ever provided. Pubs today lead the way in terms of innovation and service, they are one of the key employers in this country and they attract a wide spectrum of customers including tourists from across the globe.

We hope you enjoy our 30th birthday celebration of the pub trade's formative years - and we also invite you to join us in looking to the future with our new campaign Proud of Pubs​.

Pubs have come a long way since I sat outside in my pushchair in that garden in 1975 and licensees have a huge amount to be proud of - let's raise a glass to that!